70 



D.G. BROADLEY AND V. WALLACH 



life, supralabials, chin and throat white or pale orange, with a few 

 black spots and usually a speckled black triangle extending back 

 from the eye through the lower postocular and sixth labial to the lip, 

 a few black spots on posterior sublinguals and gulars; dorsum 

 mottled brown, green and pale grey, three or four vague black 

 chevrons on neck (more distinct in subadults); venter mottled pale 

 brown and green. 



Size. Largest 6 (BMNH 1974.547) 640 + 454 = 1094 mm; 

 largest 9(ZMUC R63 13 10) 790 + 490 = 1280 mm, both from Amani. 



Habitat. Coastal forest. 



DISTRIBUTION. The Usambara Mountains, with apparently relict 

 populations on the lower slopes of other isolated mountains in the 

 Eastern Arc chain and on the Kenya coast (Fig. 6). 



Thelotornis mossambicanus (Bocage) Eastern Vine Snake 



Oxybelis Lecomtei (not Dumeril & Bibron) Peters, 1 854: 623 (part). 



Thelotornis Kirtlandii (not Hallowell) Peters, 1882: 131 (part), PI. 

 xix, fig. 2 



Dryiophis Kirtlandii var. mossambicana Bocage, 1895, Herp. An- 

 gola & Congo: 119. Type locality: Manica, Mozambique. 

 Lectotype MBL 1843 (destroyed). 



Thelotornis kirtlandii capensis (not A. Smith) Mertens, 1937: 14. 



Thelotornis capensis (not A. Smith) Bogert, 1940: 70 (part), fig. 1 1 . 



Thelotornis capensis capensis (not A. Smith) Laurent, 1956: 230 & 

 378. 



Thelotornis capensis mossambicanus Broadley, 1979: 129. 



Thelotornis mossambicanus Broadley, 2001: 60. 



Diagnosis. Top of head green to pale brown, uniform or speckled 

 with black; temporals brown speckled with black; neck with black 

 lateral blotch; supralabials with scattered black spots, including a 

 triangle on the sixth labial; rostral and nasals not, or only feebly, 

 recurved onto top of snout; infralabials 9-13 (mode 11); ventrals 

 144-172; subcaudals 123-167. 



Description. Rostral and nasals barely visible from above; loreals 

 usually 2 (rarely 1, very rarely or 3); preocular 1; postoculars 3 

 (rarely 2 or 4); temporals 1 + 2 (very rarely 1 + 1, 1 + 3 or 2 + 2); 

 supralabials 8 (rarely 9, very rarely 6 or 7), the fourth and fifth 

 (rarely fifth and sixth, very rarely third and fourth, or third, or fifth 

 only) entering orbit; infralabials 9-13, mode 11, the first 4 or 5 in 

 contact with the anterior sublinguals; dorsal scales usually in 19-19- 

 11 or 19-19-13 rows, very rarely 17,21 or 23 rows at midbody (23 

 recorded by Rasmussen, 1997); ventrals 144-168 in 66, 145-172 

 in??; cloacal divided; subcaudals 131-167 in 66, 123-153 in??. 



Coloration. Crown of head uniform green or with a black 

 speckled Y-shaped marking, or brownish, entirely speckled with 

 black (the two extremes may occur within a population, as on Mafia 

 Island); temporal region always brown, speckled with black; 

 supralabials white spotted with black, including a triangle on sixth 

 labial, chin and throat speckled with black; dorsum ash grey with 

 diagonal rows of whitish blotches and flecks of brown and pink or 

 orange, neck with one or two elongate black blotches; venter 

 greyish, streaked with brown. 



Size. Largest 6 (MHNG 1 376.34 -Newala, Tanzania) 9 10 + 525+ 

 (tail truncated); largest? (NMZB-UM 4157 - Mutare, Zimbabwe) 

 895 + 510= 1405 mm, but MCZ 18476 from Zengeragusu, Tanza- 

 nia, has a snout-vent length of 920 mm (tail truncated). 



Habitat. Savanna and coastal forest. 



Distribution. Southern Somalia south to central Mozambique at 



about 22°30' S, west to the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Malawi and 

 eastern Zimbabwe (Fig. 6). 



Thelotornis capensis capensis A. Smith 



Southeastern Savanna Vine Snake 



Thelotornis capensis A. Smith, 1 849, ///. Zool. S. Africa, Rept. App.: 

 19. Type locality: 'Kaffirland and the country towards Port 

 Natal', i.e. Durban (type lost). 



Thelotornis kirtlandii capensis Loveridge, 1944: 154 (part). 



Thelotornis capensis capensis Broadley, 1979: 126. 



Diagnosis. Top of head blue-green with pink and black speckling 

 forming a 'Y' or 'T' marking, or speckling covering entire top of 

 head; temporals pink margined with black; neck with black lateral 

 blotches; supralabials with scattered black spots, including a trian- 

 gle on the sixth labial; rostral and nasals not, or only feebly, recurved 

 onto top of snout; infralabials 9-13 (mode 11); ventrals 144-164; 

 subcaudals 127-155. 



Description. Rostral and nasals barely visible from above; loreals 

 usually 2 (rarely 1, very rarely or 3); preocular 1; postoculars 3 

 (rarely 2 or 4); temporals 1 + 2 (very rarely 1 + 1 or 1 + 3); 

 supralabials 8 (very rarely 7 or 9), the fourth and fifth (very rarely 

 third & fourth, fifth & sixth or third, fourth and fifth) entering orbit; 

 infralabials 9-13, mode 11, the first 4 or 5 (very rarely 3 or 6) in 

 contact with anterior sublinguals; dorsal scales usually in 19-19-13 

 rows , rarely in 17 rows at midbody (15 rows only in TMP 45554); 

 ventrals 144-160 in 66, 148-162 in??; cloacal divided; subcaudals 

 133-155 in 66, 127-147 in??. 



Size. Largest 6 (NMZB 6389 - Gwanda, Zimbabwe) 830 + 506 = 

 1336 mm; largest? (TMP 56 15 - Hectorspruit, Mpumalanga, South 

 Africa) 91 1 + 455 = 1366 mm. 



Habitat. Savanna. 



Distribution. Southwestern Zimbabwe and southeastern Bot- 

 swana, south through the northern provinces of South Africa and 

 Swaziland to southern Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal (Fig. 6). 



Thelotornis capensis oatesii (Giinther) 



(Dates' Savanna Vine Snake 



Oxybelis Lecomtei (not Dumeril & Bibron) Peters, 1854: 623 (part, 

 Tete). 



Dryiophis oatesii Giinther, 1881, In Oates' Matabeleland and the 

 Victoria Falls, App. : 330, Col. PI. D. Type locality: Matabeleland 

 (= western Zimbabwe), type BMNH 1946.1.9.76. 



Thelotornis Kirtlandii (not Hallowell) Peters, 1882: 131 (part). 



Thelotornis kirtlandii capensis Loveridge, 1944: 154 (part). 



Thelotornis capensis (not A. Smith) Witte, 1953: 249, fig. 82. 



Thelotornis kirtlandii oatesii Loveridge, 1953: 277. 



Thelotornis capensis oatesii Laurent, 1956: 231, fig. 35 



Diagnosis. Top of head blue-green with pink and black speckling 

 forming a 'Y' or 'T' marking; temporals pink margined with black; 

 neck with black lateral blotches; supralabials with scattered black 

 spots, including a triangle on the sixth labial; rostral and nasals not, 

 or only feebly, recurved onto top of snout; infralabials 9-13 (mode 

 11); ventrals 150-177; subcaudals 126-168. 



DESCRIPTION. Rostral and nasals barely visible from above; loreals 

 usually 2 (rarely 1, very rarely 0); preocular 1; postoculars 3 (rarely 

 2, very rarely 1 or 4); temporals 1 + 2 (very rarely 1 + 3 or 1 + 1); 

 supralabials 8 (rarely 7, very rarely 9), the fourth and fifth (very 

 rarely third & fourth, fifth & sixth, third, fourth & fifth, or third, or 





